I'm new to node, but so many client-side open source projects use it that I am assuming there is a way to compile a node project to be compressed into one minified file that is ready for client-side usage. The open source project I'm building is using node for it's nice module and testing support, but all of the code is meant to be run on the client.
I've seen projects like this: https://github.com/mape/connect-assetmanager
But what I'm not sure of, is whether node-specific constructs like export and module are removed or supported, so that there aren't problems on the client side?
You should look at http://requirejs.org/ It replaces and extends require for both node (server-side) and browser side. It also supports merge and minification
You are incorrect. Node is server-side only. Perhaps you have a bit of a misunderstanding what Node is and isn't.
Nodejs is basically the Google Chrome V8 Javascript engine, packages as an executable that can run on a console. Javascript code written for node could run on the client though, but it's not as simple as you may think.
What functionality that you currently have on the server do you want to run on the client? Are you just looking for a minifier like yui compressor?